Cuomo To Pitch Top Republicans On Backing Him For Re-election (Updated)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo will woo a bevy of big name Republicans at The Harvard Club tomorrow, reviwing highpoints of his recent State of the State speech and accomplishments of the past three years in hopes that they will support his re-election campaign this fall.

Cuomo will make his pitch tomorrow morning at The Harvard Club in Manhattan. The event, as The Daily Politics reported, is deliberately not being billed as a fundraiser, but rather a “conversation” with the governor that is being hosted by a quartet of business bigwigs: Cablevision’s James Dolan, L&L Holding Company Chairman & CEO David Levinson and his wife Simone, private equity investor Donald Marron and hedge funder John Paulson.

UPDATE: A reader points that only one member of the foursome hosting this event – Paulson – is a registered Republican. The other three are so-called “blanks,” or unaffiliated with any political party, while Simone Levinson is a member of the Independence Party. That said, as you’ll see below, this is an official Republicans for Cuomo event, and it is intended, according to a source involved, to provide the governor an opportunity to make his case to members of the GOP and/or business communities, which are often – but not necessarily always – one and the same.

Though this technically isn’t an event at which campaign cash will be raised, potential guests are being asked to RSVP to The Blaney Group, which is headed by longtime GOP fundraiser Cathy Blaney, who has ties to former Gov. George Pataki and former US Sen. Alfonse D’Amato. Cuomo hired Blaney to assist with his fundraising during the 2010 campaign.

Another former Pataki administration official, Mike McKeon, will also be attending tomorrow’s breakfast. McKeon, who is now a lobbyist, confirmed that this is an official “Republicans for Cuomo” event, though he declined to comment whether he is headed up the effort.

McKeon headed “GOPers for Cuomo” in 2010. A number of other prominent Republicans have been assisting Cuomo, including former state GOP Chairman Pat Barrett, who co-chaired the governor’s campaign three years ago. In March 2011, Cuomo appointed Barrett, a Manlius businessman, to head the Olympic Regional Development Authority. Barrett is also serving on Cuomo’s corruption-busting Moreland Commission.

Republicans are already starting to declare their support of Cuomo’s re-election bid. D’Amato told the New York Post today that he’s in the governor’s corner, which is no big surprise, since the senator-turned-lobbyist has been contributing to – and raising money for – Cuomo for several years now. Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, who has contributed $50,000 to Cuomo’s re-election campaign, is expected to formally announce his support for the governor soon.

This all comes on the heels of a missive to GOP leaders from state Party Chairman Ed Cox that they resist Cuomo’s effort to get them to cross party lines to endorse him this year. Cox has made no secret of his desire for Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino to challenge Cuomo. The chairman has also been dismissive of efforts by Republican county chairs and lawmakers to convince developer-turned-reality-TV-star Donald Trump to run.